Within the Kremlin walls is one of the most striking and beautiful architectural ensembles in the world: a combination of churches and palaces, which are open to the public, and the highest offices of the state. Around the central Cathedral Square (Sobornaya Ploshchad) are grouped three magnificent cathedrals, superb examples of Russian church architecture at its height in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. These and the other churches in the Kremlin ceased functioning as places of worship after the October 1917 Revolution and are now museums.

The oldest of the cathedrals is the white stone Cathedral of the Assumption (Uspensky Sobor), built in 1475-79 in Byzantine style. Its pure, simple, and beautifully proportioned lines and elegant arches are crowned by five golden domes. The cathedral is a result of the great reconstruction of the Kremlin, which was started in the late 15th century by Tsar Ivan III, and was to demonstrate the growing strength of the Moscow principality.

The construction of the cathedral, which was to excel in size and beauty its famous prototype cathedral in Vladimir, was begun by a group of Moscow masters, but hardly had they erected the walls when the stone structure crashed down. It was Sophia Paleologus, Ivan III's wife, and a niece of the last Byzantine emperor, who invited the famous Italian architect Aristotle Fioravante to accomplish construction. A 60-year-old architect came to Moscow in March 1475. He destroyed the old walls and started to build the cathedral all over again. Visit to the major spiritual centers of Russian lands (Vladimir, Suzdal, and Rostov the Great), which Fioravante made at the beginning of his work in Moscow in order to get to know the best samples of the Russian church architecture, helped him to create the architectural masterpiece that might be a genuine decoration of any European capital. The contemporaries were struck by the cathedral's richly decorated interior, splendid icons, colorful frescoes, and perfect acoustics. Since 1547, when Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible was crowned in the cathedral, all Russian Tsars would be crowned, and all Russian Patriarchs would be enthroned there. In 1991, the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Across the square is the Cathedral of the Annunciation (Blagoveshchensky Sobor), built in 1484-89 by craftsmen from Pskov; though burned in 1547, it was rebuilt in 1562-64. Its cluster of chapels is topped by golden roofs and domes. Inside are a number of early 15th-century icons attributed to Theophanes the Greek and to Andrey Rublyov, considered by many to be the greatest of all Russian icon painters.

The third cathedral, the Archangel (Arkhangelsky), was named after Archangel Michael, the patron saint of Russian warriors. The originally wooden church was (allegedly) built in 1247. In 1505, Tsar Ivan III commissioned a Venetian architect Alevisio to rebuild the church. The new Archangel Cathedral (1505-08) resembles a palace encircled with a gallery. The pilasters and capitals (the element hitherto unknown in Rus) divide the construction into equal parts, and enormous white stone shells are put on the top of the walls. Since 1333 up to the founding of St. Petersburg (1710) the Archangel Cathedral was the burial place of the princes of Moscow and tsars of Russia (except Boris Godunov).

Address: The Kremlin, Cathedral Square
Nearest metro station: Alexandrovsky sad
Tel: +7 495 202-3776/4256/0349 (tours)
Open 10.00 - 16.30
Closed Th.